Questions about warm compresses and lid massage

[JJdryeye]

I made a rice bag last night out of an old dress sock. I filled it with long grain white rice and tied it off. I microwaved it for 40 seconds on high. I started my treatments last night with it but I have some questions for those in the know....

1) Is there a good way to know exactly how warm it should be keeping safety in mind? I ask because I notice there are some descrepencies on this forum about just how warm to make it. Dr. Lange frequently refers to using hot compresses, while other refer to warm compresses.

2) I noticed after about 8 minutes the temp came down quite a bit. Is it best to reheat hit halfway through the session?

3) The first couple of doctors I saw recommended warm moist compresses. Yet most people on here seem to be using the dry method, is there any advantage to using one over the other?

4) I followed up my 15 minutes of rice bag heat with about a 1 or 2 minutes moist washcloth massage of my eyelids. Is this long enough?

5) I noticed my eyes are blurry for 5 or 10 minutes after using the rice bag, is this normal?


I've done 3 treatments so far and while the heat does feel good, I think its still a bit early to know if this is going to make a big difference with me. I'm somewhat sketpicle because I think rather than having blocked m-glands, that my glands just aren't producing enough oil to begin with. But anything is worth a try.

[spmcc]

RE: heat on lids

I had one ophthalmologist tell me "as hot as you can stand it for as long as you can stand it".

I tried it but couldn't continue... my lids rebelled big time (red and swollen with drier eyes).

I've also heard of people burning their eyelids.

Then I saw his partner who told me "NO! Not hot, just moist and warm" and once a day is fine.

Then others say that cold/cool works best for them.

I don't know if there's any agreement about hot, warm, cool, moist, dry, once a day or more often!

You might want to try them all and find out what works best for you.

And, yes, blurring is normal. It's actually caused by the oil that has been expressed from your glands and is a good sign that what you did worked!

[JJdryeye]

I had one ophthalmologist tell me "as hot as you can stand it for as long as you can stand it".

I tried it but couldn't continue... my lids rebelled big time (red and swollen with drier eyes).

I've also heard of people burning their eyelids.

Then I saw his partner who told me "NO! Not hot, just moist and warm" and once a day is fine.

Then others say that cold/cool works best for them.

I don't know if there's any agreement about hot, warm, cool, moist, dry, once a day or more often!

You might want to try them all and find out what works best for you.

And, yes, blurring is normal. It's actually caused by the oil that has been expressed from your glands and is a good sign that what you did worked!

Thanks for the info. I've done about six treatments now and I do think it helps somewhat. If anything, it seems to take the edge off for 2-3 hours, and I don't have the need to constantly be putting drops in my eyes. So hopefully that benefit continues. (Although one downside seems to be the bags under eyes look worse).

I thought I had read somewhere on this forum that maximum benefit may not be felt for a few weeks, is this true?

I'm still not sure if I'm massaging my lids long enough either. I usually massage them for 1-2 minutes right after doing the compress treatment.